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Helen Caldicott

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Helen Caldicott
Caldicott in 2007
Born
Helen Mary Caldicott

(1938-08-07) 7 August 1938 (age 86)
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Occupation(s)Physician, activist
SpouseWilliam Caldicott
ChildrenPhilip, Penny, William Jr
WebsiteHelen Caldicott's official website
Scholia has a profile for Helen Caldicott (Q431092).

Helen Mary Caldicott (born 7 August 1938) is an Australian physician, author, and anti-nuclear advocate. She founded several associations dedicated to opposing the use of nuclear power, depleted uranium munitions, nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons proliferation, and military action in general.

Early life and education

Helen Caldicott was born on 7 August 1938, in Melbourne, Australia, the daughter of factory manager Philip Broinowski and Mary Mona Enyd (Coffey) Broinowski, an interior designer. She attended public school, except for four years at Fintona Girls' School at Balwyn, a private secondary school. When she was 17, she enrolled at the University of Adelaide medical school and graduated in 1961 with a MB, BS degree (the equivalent of an American M.D.). In 1962, she married William Caldicott, a paediatric radiologist who has since worked with her in her campaigns. They have three children, Philip, Penny, and William Jr.[1][dubious – discuss]

Caldicott and her husband moved to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1966 and she entered a three-year fellowship in nutrition at Harvard Medical School. Returning to Adelaide in 1969, she accepted a position in the renal unit of Queen Elizabeth Hospital. In the early 1970s, she completed a year's residency and a two-year internship in paediatrics at the Adelaide Childrens Hospital to qualify as a paediatric physician so she could legitimately establish the first Australian clinic for cystic fibrosis at the Adelaide Childrens Hospital. The clinic now has the best survival rates in Australia.[citation needed] In 1977, she joined the staff of the Children's Hospital Medical Center in Boston as an instructor in pediatrics. She taught paediatrics at the Harvard Medical School from 1977 to 1980.[1]

Anti-nuclear activism

Early activity

Caldicott at the San Francisco Public Library

Caldicott's interest in nuclear issues was sparked when she read the 1957 Nevil Shute’s book On the Beach, a novel about a nuclear holocaust set in Australia.[2]

1970s

In the 1970s, she gained prominence in Australia, New Zealand and North America, speaking on the health hazards of radiation from the perspective of paediatrics.

Her early achievements included convincing Australia to sue France over its atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons in the Pacific in 1971 and 1972, which brought the practice to an end. She also informed Australian trade unions about the medical and military dangers of uranium mining, which led to the three-year banning of the mining and export of uranium.[3]

After visiting the Soviet Union in 1979 with an AFSC delegation and upon learning the impending US deployment of cruise missiles (which would end arms control) and Pershing II missiles that could hit Moscow from Europe in 3 minutes,[4] Caldicott left her medical career to concentrate on calling the world's attention to what she referred to as the "insanity" of the nuclear arms race and the growing reliance on nuclear power. In 1978 she reinvigorated Physicians for Social Responsibility. Over time she and others recruited 23,000 physicians to this orgnaisation which, through wide educational efforts, taught the US public about the dire medical implications of both nuclear power and nuclear war. In 1985 this national organisation and many others, she founded around the world were awarded the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize. She herself was nominated for the Nobel Prize by Linus Pauling, himself a Nobel winner. (ref A Desperate Passion, WW Norton, 1996)1.

1980s

In 1980, she founded the Women's Action for Nuclear Disarmament (WAND) in the United States, which was later renamed Women's Action for New Directions. It is a group dedicated to reducing or redirecting government spending away from nuclear energy and nuclear weapons towards what the group perceives as unmet social issues.[5]

Helen was involved with a 1982 film (If You Love This Planet) which was regarded by the US government (DOJ) to be propaganda along with Prophecy (a film about the atomic bombings in Japan).[6]

1990s

In 1994 Caldicott published a revised edition of her 1978 book Nuclear Madness: What You Can Do, a book discussing the medical implications of nuclear power. The book was criticized by Ian Fells of Newcastle University, who wrote that "She damages her own case by providing an account that is anything but objective. As far as she is concerned the nuclear industry and its supporters are evil."[7]

2000s

Her sixth book, The New Nuclear Danger: George W. Bush’s Military Industrial Complex, was published in 2001.

In 2008 Caldicott founded the Helen Caldicott Foundation for a Nuclear Free Future which, for over four years, produced a weekly radio commentary, "If You Love This Planet".[8]

2010s

In April 2011, Caldicott was involved in a public argument in The Guardian with British journalist George Monbiot. Monbiot expressed great concern at what he saw as a failure by Caldicott to provide adequate justification for any of her arguments. Regarding Caldicott's book Nuclear Power is Not The Answer, he wrote: "The scarcity of references to scientific papers and the abundance of unsourced claims it contains amaze me."[9][10] Caldicott replied: "As we have seen, he and other nuclear industry apologists sow confusion about radiation risks and, in my view, in much the same way that the tobacco industry did in previous decades about the risks of smoking.".[11]. Some of her claims in her reply to Monbiot can be shown to be false, she claimed he is not a Scientist, Monbiot has a degree in biology. Also she has claimed that the radionuclides from the Fukushima accident bioconcentrate at each stage of food chains. It has been pointed out by Foreman that Helen is wrong in making the suggestion that radioactivity is going to concentrate at each stage of a food chain as in many food chains many radioactive elements do not concentrate well.[12] The article by Foreman was written in response to one by Helen in the same journal.[13] During her debate with George Monbiot she did suggest that he read her book, suggesting that she considers herself to be an authority on nuclear issues. A claim to be an expert should not be confused with actual qualifications. Additionally the book has been shown to misrepresent the contents of references.[14]

in 2011 Caldicott made a written submission regarding the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station new build project in Canada,[15] in which she claims that plutonium can cause cancer of the testicles after accumulation in these organs. However after a real life intake (inhalation) of plutonium nitrate (58 kBq) by a man very little was found at autopsy (38 years after the exposure) to be present in the testicles (27 Bq in lungs, 0.19 Bq in thoracic lymph nodes, 1170 Bq in the skeleton, 937 Bq in the liver, 1.7 Bq in the kidneys and 0.87 Bq in the testicles).[16]

In 2014, Physicians for Social Responsibility hosted a lecture on "Fukushima's Ongoing Impact" by Caldicott in Seattle, Washington.[17]

Caldicott is critical of Donald Trump. She expressed the view that he never reads books and knows nothing about global or USA politics.[18]

Honors and awards

Caldicott has been awarded 21 honorary doctoral degrees and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling in 1985.[19][20] It is important to note that nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize are supposed to remain confidential for 50 years after the nomination.[21] In 1982, she received the Humanist of the Year award from the American Humanist Association.[22] In 1992, Caldicott received the 1992 Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston for her leadership in the worldwide disarmament movement. She was inducted to the Victorian Honour Roll of Women[23] in 2001. She was awarded the Lannan Foundation Prize for Cultural Freedom in 2003, and in 2006, the Peace Organisation of Australia presented her with the inaugural Australian Peace Prize "for her longstanding commitment to raising awareness about the medical and environmental hazards of the nuclear age". The Smithsonian Institution has named Caldicott as one of the most influential women of the 20th century.[24] She is a member of the scientific committee of the Fundacion IDEAS, a progressive think tank in Spain. She serves on the Advisory Council of the Nuclear Age Peace.[25] In 2009, she was designated a Women's History Month Honoree by the National Women's History Project.[26]

Bibliography

Books by Helen Caldicott[27]
Title Year of Publication Publisher(s) ISBN Role
Nuclear Madness: What You Can Do! 1978 (revised 1994) W.W. Norton & Company ISBN 0393310116 Author
Missile Envy: The Arms Race and Nuclear War 1984 William Morrow & Co ISBN 9780688019549 Author
If You Love This Planet 1992 W. W. Norton & Company ISBN 9780393308358 Author
A Desperate Passion: An Autobiography 1996 W.W. Norton & Company ISBN 0393316807 Author
Metal of Dishonor: How Depleted Uranium Penetrates Steel, Radiates People and Contaminates the Environment 1997 International Action Center ISBN 0-9656916-0-8 Author
The New Nuclear Danger: George W.Bush's Military-industrial Complex 2002 (revised 2004) The New Press

Scribe Publications (Australia)

ISBN 1565847407

ISBN 0908011652

Author
Nuclear Power is Not the Answer 2006 The New Press

Melbourne University Press

ISBN 978-1-59558-067-2

ISBN 0522 85251 3

Author
War in Heaven: The Arms Race in Outer Space 2007 The New Press ISBN 978-1-59558-114-3 Co-author with Craig Eisendrath
Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free: A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy 2007 RDR Books ISBN 978-1571431738 Author of Afterword (author is Arjun Makhijani)
If You Love This Planet: A Plan to Save the Earth 2009 W.W. Norton & Company ISBN 978-0-393-33302-2 Author
Loving This Planet 2012 The New Press ISBN 978-1-59558-067-2 Editor
Crisis Without End: The Medical and Ecological Consequences of the Fukushima Nuclear Catastrophe 2014 The New Press ISBN 978-1-59558-960-6 Editor
Sleepwalking to Armageddon 2017 The New Press ISBN 978-1-62097-246-5 Editor

Documentary films

Caldicott has appeared in numerous documentary films and television programs. In the early 1980s, she was the subject of two documentaries: the Oscar-nominated 1981 feature-length film Eight Minutes to Midnight: A Portrait of Dr. Helen Caldicott and the 1982 Oscar-winning National Film Board of Canada short documentary, If You Love This Planet.[28]

A 2004 documentary film, Helen's War: Portrait of a Dissident,[29] provides a look into Caldicott's life through the eyes of her niece, filmmaker Anna Broinowski.

Caldicott is featured along with foreign affairs experts, space security activists and military officials in interviews in Denis Delestrac's 2010 feature documentary Pax Americana and the Weaponization of Space.

The 2013 documentary Pandora's Promise also features footage of Caldicott, interspersed with counter-points to her assertions regarding the health impacts of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Title Director Production Company Year
The World Awaits Don Haderlein 2015 (in production)
The Oracles of Pennsylvania Avenue Tim Wilkerson 2013
United Natures Peter Charles Downey United Natures Independent Media 2013
Pandora's Promise Robert Stone Robert Stone Productions, Vulcan Productions 2013
Democracy Now! (TV Series) Democracy Now 2011
The University of Nuclear Bombs Mohamed Elsawi, Joshua James 2010
Pax Americana and the Weaponization of Space Denis Delestrac Coptor Productions Inc., Lowik Media 2009
Difference of Opinion (TV Series) Australian Broadcasting Corporation 2007
Poison Dust Sue Harris 2005
Fatal Fallout: The Bush Legacy Gary Null Gary Null Moving Pictures 2004
Helen's War: Portrait of a Dissident Anna Broinowski 2004
American Experience (TV documentary) WGBH 1998
In Our Hands Robert Richter, Stanley Warnow 1984
If You Love This Planet (short) Terri Nash National Film Board of Canada 1982
Eight Minutes to Midnight: A Portrait of Dr. Helen Caldicott Mary Benjamin 1981
We are the Guinea Pigs Joan Harvey 1980

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Helen Caldicott Biography (1938-)".
  2. ^ Dullea, Georgia (2 June 1979). "Pediatrician believes babies more susceptible to radiation". The Index-Journal. Greenwood, South Carolina. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  3. ^ "CV - Helen Caldicott, M.D." Helen Caldicott. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  4. ^ A Desperate Passion
  5. ^ Sheldon, Sayre (October 2004). "A Brief History of WAND". WAND Education Fund. Archived from the original on 27 July 2015. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  6. ^ Nuclear Propaganda: A Review Essay, Diana Papademas, Humanity & Society, 1984, 8, page 104, https://doi.org/10.1177/016059768400800114
  7. ^ Fells I. Nature, 1994, volume 370, 7 July, p.27
  8. ^ "If You Love This Planet weekly radio program archives". Retrieved 6 May 2009.
  9. ^ Monbiot G. Nuclear opponents have a moral duty to get their facts straight. The Guardian, 14 April 2011
  10. ^ Monbiot G.The unpalatable truth is that the anti-nuclear lobby has misled us all. The Guardian, 5 April 2011
  11. ^ Caldicott H. How nuclear apologists mislead the world over radiation.The Guardian, 11 April 2011
  12. ^ About Helen Caldicott’s guest article, M.R.StJ Foreman, Australian Medical Student Journal, 2014, 5(1), 10. http://www.amsj.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/AMSJ_v5_i1.pdf
  13. ^ The impact of the nuclear crisis on global health, H. Caldicott, Australian Medical Student Journal, 2013, 4(2), 40. http://www.amsj.org/wp-content/uploads/files/issue/amsj_v4_i2.pdf
  14. ^ Foreman M. R. StJ. "Reactor accident chemistry an update", Cogent Chemistry, 13 March 2018, volume 4, article 1450944, Reactor accident chemistry an update
  15. ^ https://www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca/050/documents/48010/48010F.pdf Written Submission from Helen Caldicott, PMB 11-P1.108, Date 2011-02-17
  16. ^ Nielsen, C. E., Wilson, D. A., Brooks, A. L., McCord, S. L., Dagle, G. E., James, A. C., . . . Morga, W. F. (2012). Microdistribution and long-term retention of Pu-239 (NO3)(4) in the respiratory tracts of an acutely exposed plutonium worker and experimental beagle dogs. Cancer Research, 72, 5529–5536. doi:10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-12-1824
  17. ^ Fukushima’s Ongoing Impact Archived 10 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine; Physicians for Social Responsibility; 28 September 2014
  18. ^ Dan Drollette Jr (2018) A conversation with Helen Caldicott, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 74:3, 177-184, DOI: 10.1080/00963402.2018.1461976
  19. ^ Caldicott Biography; U.S. National Library of Medicine
  20. ^ Curriculum Vitae; Caldicott Website; 12 January 2015
  21. ^ Nomination and Selection of Peace Prize Laureates. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Media AB 2019. Sun. 22 Sep 2019. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/facts/nomination-and-selection-of-peace-prize-laureates>
  22. ^ "Remedy for Global Instability – a Public Lecture by Dr Helen Caldicott". 12 November 2016.
  23. ^ "Victorian Honour Roll of Women 2001" (PDF).
  24. ^ Anti-nuclear Activist Dr. Helen Caldicott to Appear; Cape Cod Today; 28 March 2012 [dead link‍]
  25. ^ Advisory Council; Nuclear Age Peace Foundation; 20 February 2014
  26. ^ "Honorees: 2010 National Women's History Month". Women's History Month. National Women's History Project. 2010. Archived from the original on 28 August 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  27. ^ "Books". Trove. National Library of Australia. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  28. ^ Nash, Terre (1982). "If You Love This Planet". NFB.ca. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 30 April 2009.
  29. ^ "CBC The Passionate Eye Sunday Showcase: Helen's War, Portrait of a Dissident". Archived from the original on 15 January 2006. Retrieved 15 January 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
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